For the past seven seasons, Ryan Day has been the primary play-caller for the Ohio State Buckeyes, beginning when he took over as offensive coordinator in 2017 and continuing when he became the program’s head coach in 2019. But he’s making a pretty major change in that regard this season.
During his press conference on Wednesday morning, Ryan Day officially announced that he will be giving up play-calling duties for the Buckeyes next season. This move was widely assumed after Ohio State hired offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien last month, but Day confirmed the change on Wednesday.
Day admitted that this it was a difficult decision and not something he necessarily wanted to do, but he thinks it’s the right move for the betterment of the program.
“I know that is an ideal situation moving forward,” he said. “Do I want to? No. I don’t. I love the football part of it.”
Day said that O’Brien “checked all those boxes” for what he was looking for in a play-caller, and he plans to hand over play-calling duties to him.
There is a chance that O’Brien will not be around to call plays for the Buckeyes this fall as he is currently a candidate for the Boston College head coaching vacancy, but Day said that the team does have a “contingency plan” in place if that does happen.
“It isn’t just one of those situations where you take out one guy and put another guy in there and move on,” Day said of the possibility that O’Brien leaves. “It doesn’t work that way. But yes, we talked to different people for that position and we have contingency plans in place. Hopefully, we don’t have to go down that road, though.”
But it sounds like Day will be giving up play-calling duties whether it’s to O’Brien or someone else.
[ESPN]
